Let's admit it, we all hate Internet Explorer 6. About 80% of our CSS debug time are spend on IE6. We all know that IE6 is outdated and has horrible CSS rendering engine. However, most average Internet users haven't realized that yet. Why? Because we put our hard work on it and patch the bugs by various IE hacks. Well, it is time to do something...

Common IE hacks

CSS Conditional comments
In order for our sites to work on specific verson of IE (due to improper CSS rendering), CSS conditional comments are used to apply special CSS specifications to fix it. If you haven't realized this yet, read the IE bug articles on positioniseverything.net (warning: you might hate IE more after you read them).

PNG hack
As mentioned early, IE6 is outdated and doesn't support PNG alpha transparency. In order to display PNG (with alpha transparency) properly in IE6 or older version, we use this hack.

My response:
"Yes, I know the PNGs don't display probably in IE6. But guess what, I'm not going to bother to fix it. I'm sick of hacking IE6 bugs. You should upgrade your browser anyway. Why are you still using the outdated browser?"

Why trash IE6 hacks?

I know this is difficult because about 37% (according to w3schools.com) of internet users are still using IE6. But, together we can make a different. Stop using IE hacks on your sites and let them see the ugly side of IE6. Eventually, they will find a better browser (ie. Firefox) or at least upgrade to newer version of IE.

Update:
Agree with the comments below, the statistic from W3schools does not reflect the entire internet. According to TheCounter.com, the global browser stats of IE6 users is 52% in July 2007.

Support me

If you agree with me, please support Web Designer Wall by making a vote and spreading out the word. Let's trash all IE hacks and code happily ever after...

[poll=1]

Conclusion

85% voted yes

15% voted no

Here are what people have said:

"My boss will fire me if my sites don't work in IE6" because 52% of internet users are still using IE6.

513 Comments

I should clarify my above comment. This does NOT mean that the site will look exactly the same on every browser and platform, it just means that it will *work.* The point is that IE6 hacks can and should be a thing of the past, but there is a better way of going about it.

Krsiak DanielJun 02, 2011 @ 08:55

Hi,

I use little good trick In my contracts.
Little phrase: “web is not for IE6 and lower”

I say it honestly to client, I show him difference in up-to-date browser vs. IE6 … yeah they are shocked :]

If client disagrees I do not take the job.
Saves my mental health for good :]]

Oh my God, totally indeed, Microsoft has to be working to do something in order to fix all this nightmare of browser bugs, every single day I receive feedback like: Hey Ale you know what? the site looks perfect in Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, IE9, but our IE6 doesn’t display well the .png rollOver state on the buttons, could you fix this?
DAMMIT! 5 browsers in future and this people is still thinking we are in the 90’s. I agree they should be punished.

HarmoniusDesignJul 12, 2011 @ 14:20

When I code a design, all I have to hack (for all versions of IE) is typically just text boxes so that the text doesnt sit at the top in IE. Otherwise there are methods to avoid breaking IE6. Also if you ignore IE6 I’m guessing IE7 will break as well — It could be my coding style, but many many times when I have an error in ie7, ie6 has the same error and can be corrected with the same hack.

So what about IE7?

Personally I don’t mind coding for IE6 at all. My designs will usually work close to 100% the same in IE6, but I’m guessing you didn’t learn to code the same way as me and wanna puke when you have to cover/open your designs in ie6 haha.

DolmaJul 22, 2011 @ 18:56

Instead of ignoring IE6 (and 7) when designing our website, we should just all put some conditional comments in all our pages which tells the user that it has detected he uses IE6 or 7 (or even just IE haha) and that he should upgrade his (or her ;)) browser and put a link for them to upgrade (or just put a link for FF or chrome download ;))

That way, your “clients” or visitors will not see it as a failure from your end because the website will still “look good” but most of them will just click on the link and upgrade because you tell them so. And if enough designers do that, those retarded users will start to see it on more and more websites and will eventually understand that they should do something about those f**** browsers …

Who agrees ?

Cheers people :)

SouleAug 10, 2011 @ 17:42

Do what google did

If someone’s using IE 6 just put a nagging notification on top urging them to upgrade.

Its a chicken and egg problem; developers dont want to lose IE6 users so cater to them and IE6 users dont want to upgrade since everything is fine “and catered” to them.

I say wait another few years and we can forget about IE6. Five years ago, a of people were stuck on IE5. More and more people are converting to Macs, and if not macs, their smartphones. We can put the IE6 warnings up (whenever someone is viewing our website on an IE6 browser, we give them the link to download firefox or safari or to upgrade), the newer browsers are free to download.

Five years ago, a of people were stuck on IE5. More and more people are converting to Macs, and if not macs, their smartphones. We can put the IE6 warnings up (whenever someone is viewing our website on an IE6 browser, we give them the link to download firefox or safari or to upgrade), the newer browsers are free to download.